


somersaults and sentimentality

by kurdoodle



Category: Day6 (Band), TWICE (Band)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 15:04:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17246360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kurdoodle/pseuds/kurdoodle
Summary: nayeon is a girl of principle.in other words, truth or dare gone wrong (or right?)





	somersaults and sentimentality

**Author's Note:**

  * For [iverins](https://archiveofourown.org/users/iverins/gifts).



> so apparently my friends don't want me to retire and thus this gift exchange happened lmao hope you like it <3

“Hurry up, Nayeon! We’re going to be late to the party!” Jaebum yells from downstairs. She can hear the jingling of keys in her father’s hand and her mother’s reminders for all of them to wear an extra layer to fend off the wintry cold.

“Coming!” Nayeon shouts back, eyes darting around her room to make sure that she is not missing anything. She scrambles to find some socks to put on and quickly swipes her lips with her lip gloss. Holding her little purse, she frowns slightly at its lightness and then realizes that her bullet journal is still laid flat on her desk. She grabs it and shoves the notebook into the big pouch. Not that she plans on having the time to work on it, but she feels more ready with it in her hand.

“Nayeon, please help your brother with carrying the food,” her mother says once Nayeon clambers down the stairs.

Once they’re all in the car, Nayeon subconsciously takes out her journal, careful to hide the pages just out of view so Jaebum does not see.

 

 _Goals for the New Year_

  * _Get an A in chemistry_


  * _Finally be able to do the splits_


  * _Improve at calligraphy_


  * _Get over Brian Kim_



 

 

The corner of her lips curl up slightly at the last one. Stealing a glance at her brother, she bites her bottom lip, fully aware of her stomach twisting in a knot. Maybe she’s just hungry. Surely this is not just a manifestation of the residual feelings that she has for a boy who probably does not even care much about her. Which is perfect timing for right now, when there is no school and she can purge her memories of all things related to a certain boy who has stolen her --

“What are you smiling at?” Jaebum interrupts her thoughts.

Nayeon snaps her journal shut and blinks. “Nothing,” she mumbles.

Oh yeah, and there’s an important detail she almost forgot: Brian is one of Jaebum’s good friends. Great.

“Would you kill me if I knew?” Jaebum reaches over to shove her shoulder. She just grips her notebook tighter.

“I don’t know, would I?”

He raises an eyebrow. “Would _I_ kill you if I knew?”

At that, her mind works on overdrive to imagine all the possibilities and ways she could be humiliated not just in front of her long-time crush but also in front of her brother who will tease her to no end.

There is the thought that maybe she would actually have a chance, but it’s not like she has not tried to cross paths with Brian multiple times before. Including the time she quite _literally_ ran into him and ended up with a bruise on her forehead after crashing into the textbook he was holding in his hand. Which is why Nayeon is now a proponent for soft-cover textbooks only, thank you very much.

She digresses. She turns her attention back to Jaebum, who looks like he’s staring daggers into her head. Nice.

You know what, she’s going to get over Brian Kim and that’s that. Unlike most people, Nayeon actually keeps track of her New Year’s Resolutions. She’ll make it happen, as she always does when she sets her mind on something.

“From the way you’re looking at me, I think the answer is yes,” Jaebum quips.

Nayeon scowls and glumly stares out the window.

...Well, she thinks herself. He’s probably not wrong.

  
  


 

 

Perhaps it started when she saw him playing bass at the high school music festival. Before that, he had just been one of Jaebum’s friends who sometimes came over to their house to pig out on pizza and to binge watch horror movies. She had never taken much interest in that, so he barely made a blip on her radar.

But her heart had almost somersaulted out of her chest when she finally heard his voice through a microphone. Hair swept just slightly in front of his eyes, not needing to see in order to feel the frets of the bass guitar that molded perfectly into his frame, as if they were made for each other. He was in his element. Nayeon could not tear her gaze away, breath nearly sucked out of her lungs.

“I wrote this when my heart was feeling heavy,” he explained amidst of the buzz of the crowd as he introduced the next song. “Please enjoy.” He cracked a smile, then nodded to the rest of the band.

Dowoon started the song with a couple clicks of his drum sticks, the guitar riff soared into the air, his lyrics pierced her straight through the heart, and the rest was history.

  
  
  


 

Even now, as she ruminates on a certain someone during the car ride to the potluck, she hates that her heart grows fonder still as she recalls the way the guitar strap hung over his broad shoulders, his confidence in the stage lights, and every inflection of his voice as he sang and talked. She hates the fact that when he comes over for more pizza and horror movies, now her ears perk up when she hears his laugh in the living room, even when she’s upstairs supposedly doing homework. She hates the fact that despite his strong appearance on stage, the content of his music shows his softer interior, words twisting around in his head and weaving themselves into melodies. She hates that she’s sentimental, and that he, oddly enough, oozes that sentimentality and even makes it cool.

He shouldn’t even be real, and yet, there he is, every other weekend, strolling into their house as if it is his own.

And yet, there he is, every other weekend, not sparing her a second glance unless it was for the cupcakes she just accidentally-on-purpose happened to bake that weekend or for the popcorn that she would bring into the living room.

Her thoughts are cut short when they finally arrive at Jisoo’s house and she gets caught up in the stream of friends and family pouring through her front door. She almost accidentally drops her notebook into the sea of shoes lining the foyer but then remembers to shove it back into her purse for safekeeping. Safe and sound.

  
  
  


 

Basically what happens at the potluck gathering is that the parents get engrossed in karaoke and card games, the guys get sucked into playing Smash, and the girls end up holed in Jisoo’s room playing Truth or Dare.

Sowon is giggling into her shoulder and Jeongyeon is busy still stuffing herself with chocolate-covered strawberries.

“Okay, next,” Jisoo says, repositioning the bottle back into the center of the circle. She had been dared to try to lick her elbow, courtesy of Sowon (bless her soul).

The bottle scrapes against the hardwood floor and spins to a stop, pointing at yours truly. All eyes turn to her. “Truth or dare?” Jeongyeon asks between bites.

Nayeon squints, chewing her bottom lip. “Dare.”

By the way Jisoo’s eyes glint in the bedroom light, Nayeon almost regrets the word that had rolled off her tongue. “Ooh, I have a good one,” Jisoo says. She turns to the other girls and winks. “Trust me.”

Nayeon rolls her eyes. “Alright, what is it?”

Jisoo leans in. “Ask Brian Kim out on a date. I dare you.”

Nayeon’s mouth gapes open, and it’s honestly sheer luck that she did not have to pick her jaw off the floor.

Jeongyeon is the first one to burst out laughing, followed by Jisoo and Sowon. “You know, that’s a good one. True friendship right there,” Jeongyeon quips.

Nayeon glares at her, half pretend, half for-real. “What do you mean?”

“We all know you have a massive crush on him,” Jisoo says. “I’m just helping you along. You know, end the year strong. You’ve waited long enough.”

Nayeon groans.

She really should not have come to this potluck.

  
  
  


 

On second thought, Nayeon had not been the most discreet about her newfound love. She goes to as many of his band’s shows as she possibly could without getting yelled at by her parents. She may or may not have recorded footage of almost all of their songs. And may or may not have transcribed lyrics of her favorite ones. You know, just for archive’s sake.

She once got caught by Jeongyeon when she was lettering some of his song lyrics into her journal. “Wow, someone’s smitten,” she had said, shoving her shoulder a little too hard.

“I’m just practicing my calligraphy!” Nayeon had defended herself. But the heat had risen to her cheeks and her ears were burning behind her curtain of hair.

She hadn’t meant to keep it a secret, but she never broadcasted her feelings either. It just was. The feelings were simply present. A reality. The warmth that runs through her veins.

Something she could not fight.

  
  
  


 

Of course, besides the not-so-comfortable reality that her friends can see right through her facade, Nayeon wrestles with her own thoughts as she stares at the open notebook before her. Nayeon is a girl of principle. Writing down her resolutions might as well be as binding as a contract. But backing out on a dare is also out of question. Jeongyeon would never let her hear the end of it. And Nayeon is a terrible liar, so there’d be no way out of it anyway.

“Do you think I’d really have to do it?” she finally calls Sowon, who is the only one who wouldn’t get all up in her case about it. She’d know what to do, right?

“You really do like him though,” Sowon murmurs on the other side of the line, stating the obvious. “The dare doesn’t specify the timing. Settle your heart and who knows, when the timing is right, you can let him know your feelings.”

“H-hold on,” Nayeon squeals. “The dare never said anything about telling him my feelings.” God forbid that he knows that she dreams about him maybe every other night and wonders what it’s like to be serenaded by him. Bonus points if he’s slightly sick and his raspy voice is deeper than usual. She’d swoon on the spot. But he doesn’t need to know this.

Neither does Sowon.

“I mean, if you’re asking him on a date, it basically implies that you are interested and have some feelings,” Sowon says.

“Or it could just mean that it was a dare,” Nayeon shoots back.

“Which it is,” Sowon concedes. “But we all know there’s something so much more brewing underneath,” she teases.

Nayeon groans. Never mind. She doesn’t think that Sowon is helping this situation at all. “Okay, okay, fine,” Nayeon throws up her hands. “I’ll think of something. Um, Merry Christmas. Again. Or something,” she huffs.

“Good luck, Nayeonie,” Sowon singsongs and ends the phone call with that tinkling laugh of hers.

Even after she hangs up, the laugh is ringing in Nayeon’s ears.

  
  


 

 

The thing about Brian is that he’s so unreachable. They’re not in the same year. Their only other interactions are random ones in the school hallway where they catch each other’s gazes for a split second and he either smiles or nods and then moves on with his day. She is not part of that day. She is the friend’s little sister who hovers in the background. Hopeless.

Once, though, she had bumped into him after one of his shows. “Thanks for coming, Nayeon,” he had said, rubbing the calluses on his fingertips. “Means a lot.”

She had smiled then, finally feeling seen. “Of course. I’m a big fan of your music.”

 _And you_ , she had neglected to mention. But she did not think that she could ever muster enough courage to say that.

The conversation had ended shortly after. The warmth in his smile stayed with her for the rest of the night.

That same warmth is the last strand of hope onto which she clings.

It’s not much.

She feels the time running out in her bones.

Then, a thought comes: she whips out her phone and stares at the calendar. She still has a good five days before the year ends. Five days for the dare, and depending on the outcome, she’ll have the rest of the next year to get over him, just as planned.

She grits her teeth and eyes her notebook. Still, despite her parents’ insistence on not putting the heater on full blast, the warmth seeps through her skin.

  
  
  


 

It is kind of unfortunate, though, that there are no gigs of his to go to in this stretch between Christmas and New Year’s. There is no school either. Nayeon wonders how in the world she would ever get an excuse to see him.

The chance comes when she overhears Jaebum telling their mother that he’s going to Sungjin’s house the next day. Sungjin is the leader of Brian’s band. Surely, Brian might be there too?

In classic not-obvious Nayeon manner, she scurries up to him once Jaebum returns to his room. “Hey,” she says, plopping herself down onto his bed.

Jaebum barely looks up from his laptop. “What’s up,” he murmurs.

“You’re going to Sungjin’s tomorrow?”

“Mmm.”

“...Could I come?” Nayeon has to almost force the words out of her mouth. Sometimes Jaebum is a good brother. Sometimes he’s an annoying pain in the butt. She hopes that he’s the former one today.

This gets him to finally look up from his laptop. He looks at her intently. “We’re not doing anything super interesting…” he trails off. She can see the cog wheels turning in his head: _there’s only guys there, why do you want to tag along, why can’t you hang out with your own friends…_ Then he looks at her again. “But I guess I can’t stop you from showing up.”

At this, Nayeon grins and has to stop herself from clapping her hands like the lovesick person she is. She almost wants to ask him if Brian is coming, but a girl does not blow off her cover so easily. She’ll just have to risk it on this one.

“Thanks, you’re the best brother ever,” she exclaims, giving him a hug that he instantly shrugs off while rolling his eyes.

She’s back in her own room, humming to herself while decorating her New Year’s Resolutions page some more when her brother peeks his head into the doorway. “Leaving at noon,” is all he says. “Tomorrow.”

Nayeon beams back at him.

  
  
  


 

It is different, though, when it is actually D-day. No amount of breathing exercises could calm her down, and by the time they ring the doorbell to Sungjin’s house and Dowoon opens the door for them, it’s game over. Nayeon might as well be sweating buckets despite the cool wintry air.

“Oh hey Nayeonie,” Jinyoung says when she peeks her head into the living room. A bunch of the guys are playing video games again but Brian is not one of them.

“Hi,” she says, playing it off like it’s absolutely normal that she’s here. In a house she’s never been in before.

Thankfully, some wandering does her some good and she ends up finding the garage, from which keyboard and acoustic guitar sounds are emanating. She doesn’t hear a bass guitar, but she does hear his distinct laugh. She would know it anywhere.

“Nayeon! What are you doing here?” Jae says, waving her over.

Yeah, she doesn’t know quite how to respond to that one. Luckily, Sungjin saves the day. “Our biggest fan! Come listen to our new song, we’ll do a sneak preview for you!”

Nayeon smiles at him gratefully, stealing a glance at Brian who is playing with his amp. She slowly takes a seat on a chair and observes them. She’s never seen them play so up close, so intimately. They speak to each other with just their eyes, pointed nods of the head, and the beat of the drums. The melodies skate across the garage and there’s even a bass solo that effectively leaves Nayeon feeling dizzy. Nevermind that he looks good doing it even while wearing household slippers with floral designs.

After rehearsing for a bit, Jae says, “Let’s get something to drink and see what the rest are up to.” One by one, the other boys follow him for their much-deserved practice break.

Nayeon does not quite know what to do with herself as she watches them leave. Before she realizes, it’s only her and Brian left. He’s sitting on his amp, fiddling with the knobs on his pedal board. “Hi Nayeon,” he finally says. The first words he’s spoken to her all day.

“Hi,” she replies, shuffling her feet together and staring at the wall behind him. “Can I see what you’re doing?” she finally gathers enough courage to ask.

He nods and scoots over, making just enough room for her to sit down beside him. It is other-worldly, sitting so close to him and hearing every breath that he takes. She watches some more as he practices his bass solo again, making sure that each note is pristine and in tune. “Wow, you’re really good,” she hums.

Brian smiles. “Thanks.”

Another moment of silence. It’s now or never.

“I have something to tell you,” Nayeon starts.

He stops looking at his guitar and stares at her instead. He is oh-so-close. She can see every eyelash, the curvature of his nose, something swimming in his breathtaking eyes…

“I --”

A voice interrupts them. “Hey Brian, do you want Sprite or Fanta?” Wonpil peeks his head through the doorway.

Nayeon closes her eyes in mortification and hops up from her seat next to him. She smooths out the imaginary wrinkles in her sweater. She takes one look at Wonpil, who has his mouth shaped like an O as he glances between her and Brian, and Nayeon decides that she needs to leave. Oh my goodness. She can’t do this. Forget about being a girl of principle.

“Um, excuse me, I gotta go,” Nayeon mutters to herself. Slight bow toward the both of them and starts moving toward the door.

“Hey,” Brian calls out after her.

She turns around, much to her horror.

“You said you had something to say,” he reminds her. “And uh, Sprite please, in a moment.” He nods briefly to Wonpil and then stands up, carefully taking off the guitar strapped around his neck. The other guy clears his throat and exits, leaving Nayeon staring at Brian in disbelief.

“Follow me,” Brian says. She trails behind him as he goes through the patio door and clicks the door shut behind him. Now there are truly no distractions. No shiny cymbals to stare at, no cords on the floor to kick around absentmindedly. Just concrete. Just some plants on the side. Just -- she looks up at him now -- Brian.

He gazes at her expectantly. Nayeon has to squeeze her eyes shut briefly to regain her senses. Yes, Nayeon is a girl of principle.

“I know this seems weird, just me showing up here -- I mean like, it’s just so --” she starts rambling, then skids to a stop. “I guess. What I’m trying to say is.” Her heart keeps tumbling in her chest. “Would you go on a date with me?”

She holds her breath afterward, not daring to look at him straight, opting instead to stare at the leaves right in front of her. What is it called? Chlorophyll? That gives them this color? Even in the middle of winter? Must not be your typical --

“Hey Nayeon, look at me,” he jolts her out of her daze. She has no choice but to look at him, magnetic. His eyes look softer today, the same quality that he has when he’s singing a slower song. “You know, I kind of wish I was the one to ask you instead. But since you did it first… Yeah. Let’s do it.”

Nayeon has to do a double take. A triple take, even. Did she hear this correctly? “Really?” She can’t let herself get too excited just yet.

Brian stands closer to her now and leans against the pillar beside her. “Yeah, for real,” he laughs. “Would I lie?”

“I don’t know, would you?” Nayeon responds. But inside, she thinks to herself: no, no he wouldn’t. “I just don’t get it… I don’t want to ask too many questions, since you said yes already -- and there’s no going back on it by the way, okay? -- but…”

He’s supposed to be unreachable.

Brian laughs again. “You know, Nayeon. You have a really pretty smile.” He pauses. “Whenever I play, I have a habit of looking out into the audience and figuring out if you’re there. I should have expressed my appreciation earlier, to be honest. Your support truly means a lot.” His eyes grow distant now, but there’s still that softness in them. “I guess… I don’t know how it happened either. I started becoming more curious about you. But for some reason, I just never -- well. Besides that one time I talked to you after one of my gigs…”

“Thanks for that,” Nayeon blurts out. She quiets her voice again. “That really meant a lot to me. When you thanked me. I was too flustered to continue the conversation, so it just kind of drifted away…”

“Well, we can talk now, can’t we?” he says. “Instead of just crashing into each other in the school hallway,” he teases.

“Oh yeah, that was an accident. Sorry. Kind of,” Nayeon hides her face behind her hands.

“And besides, I’d be happy to see you around more. You make really good cupcakes,” Brian adds. Her first reaction is awe -- because she’d always thought she was the only one who noticed their interactions, who kept a track record of everything in her head. The way his eyes twinkle makes her want to make cupcakes everyday for him for the rest of his life. But she digresses.

Then, as if he’s talking to no one in particular, he says softly, “You know, I wasn’t planning on coming today. But Jaebum…” Then he turns back to Nayeon and shakes his head.

“What?”

“Nothing,” he simply gives her another grin. “Hey, do you want to help me tune my guitar?”

Nayeon nods, flashing the biggest smile ever.

After all, Brian thinks it’s pretty.

  
  
  
  
  


 

 

 

 

(On the way home:

“Hey sis,” Jaebum slings his arm around her shoulders.

“Yeah?”

“You seem very happy right now,” is his matter-of-fact response.

She dampens the spring in her step just a tad. Maybe she is being too transparent here. But her smile stretches across her entire face, so much so that her cheeks start hurting. “You can tell?” she finally says while playing with her scarf.

“Mhmm,” Jaebum murmurs. He flashes her his own set of pearly whites, and she swears she catches a glimmer in his eyes. “Something good must have happened between you and Brian.”

Nayeon blinks approximately twenty times in one second. “Wait… how did you…” Ah, so that’s what Brian meant earlier.

“Big brothers are not as dense as you think, Nayeonie,” he says. He lets his words sit in the cold air for a moment. She blinks some more. Jaebum bumps into her shoulder gently.

At that, all she can do is laugh. “I thought you’d kill me, to be honest,” she says under her breath, but her heart is filled with glee.

Her phone in her pocket is incessantly buzzing, surely with notifications from her friends’ reactions to her message that she had done the dare. When they finally make it home, she sits down at her desk with her notebook and crosses out the New Year’s resolution.

She remembers just half an hour earlier: his sincere gaze, his cheeky smile, the feeling of just sitting next to him while he tunes his guitar. She begins to accept that maybe her fate is to have her heart somersaulting like this for the rest of eternity.

Indeed, there is no getting over him now.

And for that, she is not complaining.)

  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
